In the second half of 1947, Liu Deng, Chen Xie, Chen Su and the Western Front Corps of the East China Field Army advanced into the Central Plains, forming a confrontation with the enemy and thwarting the siege of the Dabie Mountain base area by the Kuomintang army.
In order to break the deadlock in the Central Plains, Yan'an planned three main corps to cross the Yangtze River in the south. Su Yu disagreed with this plan, believing that it would be more advantageous to fight a decisive battle in the Central Plains.
First, there are many large cities in the Central Plains and many traffic trunk lines, which is conducive to our movement to annihilate the enemy.
Second, our army has struggled hard in the Central Plains for many years, and the mass base is good.
Third, the Central Plains are mostly plains, and the enemy's mechanized troops rely on communication trunk lines, and as long as our army destroys its communication trunk lines, it is responsible for our army's mobile operations.
Comparatively speaking, if our army crosses the Yangtze River in the south to fight, it has no rear and no support, and it will fight deep into the enemy's hinterland, and long-term and large-scale movement will reduce the morale of the troops, reduce the number of personnel in large numbers, and be unable to break the deadlock.
The stakes were so high that the Yan'an side tentatively agreed to Su Yu's plan, not to cross the Yangtze River for the time being, and to wait for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle in the Central Plains.
Battlefield posture
In May 1948, the Kuomintang military command broke the deadlock. Thirteen reorganized divisions were deployed to focus on defending the Central Plains, seven divisions were located in the western Henan region, and the rest were deployed in the southwestern Lu and eastern Henan regions in an attempt to fight a decisive battle at the main force in Huaye Zhongye.
The Plan of the Central Military Commission was: The Western Front Corps of the East China Field Army in order to completely annihilate the Qiu Corps on both sides of the Longhai Road, and the Central Plains Field Army waited for opportunities to annihilate the enemy on both sides of the Pinghan Railway to cooperate with the Huaye Operation.
As Su Yu moved north, Qiu Qingquan's corps marched southwest of Lu, and Liu Ruming's corps entered the area around Heze Dongming. Nakano Eleventh Column held the Qiu Corps in southwestern Lu, Liu Deng and Chen Xie held the Battle of Wandong to create space for Su Yu to go south, Huaye Chen Tang Corps attacked Xuchang, and Song Shilun Corps assisted Nakano.
After capturing Xuchang, Chen Tang's corps marched toward Kaifeng, and a surprise attack on Kaifeng, and the Nanjing side immediately ordered Zhengzhou Sun Yuanliang's corps to move east, Hu Lian's corps to the north, and Qiu Qingquan's corps to the west. Qin Jiwei was responsible for the footprints of Sun Yuanliang's corps, Su Yu was responsible for containing Qiu Qingquan's corps, and Liu Deng was responsible for containing Hu Lian's corps. Until the liberation of Kaifeng on June 22, all reinforcements retreated.
Qiu Qingquan
After the fall of Kaifeng, Chiang Kai-shek was very alarmed, and immediately ordered Qiu Qingquan's corps and the newly formed District Shounian Corps to detour from Minquan to Kaifeng via Sui County, and Sun Yuanliang's corps from east to west.
Since the District Shounian Corps was a newly formed corps with fewer troops and little combat experience in our army, Su Yu abandoned the plan to besiege Qiu Qingquan's corps and instead besieged the District Shou Nian Corps. The specific plan was as follows: Chen Tang's corps abandoned Kaifeng and moved south, attracting Qiu Qingquan's corps to the south and widening its distance from the District Shounian Corps. Subsequently, Qin Jiwei blocked Sun Yuanliang's corps, Huaye blocked Qiu Qingquan's corps, and Nakano blocked Hu Lian. He was responsible for concentrating his forces to besiege the District Shounian Corps
On the 26th, Qiu Qingquan entered Kaifeng, and the responsibility of the district life was still in the area of civil rights and Sui County. Su Yu seized the fighter plane and encircled the Shounian Regiment. When Chiang Kai-shek saw that Ou Shounian was besieged, he immediately ordered Hu Lian to go north, and then formed a new Huang Baitao Corps to attack from the east. Qiu Qingquan's corps was stubbornly blocked by our army to the west of Qixian County, Hu Lian was held back by Liu Deng, and only Huang Baitao's corps could rescue The Shounian regiment in the area.
On July 1, Huang Baitao and Huang Baitao arrived at Diqiudian, ten kilometers away from Sui County, so Su Yu was determined to annihilate Ou Shounian and Huang Baitao first, and by July 2, our army basically eliminated Ou Shounian and turned around to attack Huang Baitao. Both Qiu Qingquan and Hu Lian had already broken through our army's defensive line, Qiu Qingquan had reached southwest Yindian with him on the 6th, Hu Lian had reached Zhoukou, and Huang Baitao's corps had shrunk into a regiment, making it difficult to annihilate. At this point, our army took the initiative to withdraw from the battle, and the Battle of Eastern Henan ended. After this battle, it shook the confidence of the enemy in moving to support and defend strategic places, resulting in a sentence that spread later: Friendly troops have difficulties and do not move like mountains.
The Battle of Eastern Henan, which lasted for 20 consecutive days, annihilated more than 90,000 Kuomintang troops, weakened the effective strength of the Kuomintang army, and created conditions for our army to annihilate the main force of the Kuomintang army north of the Yangtze River.